Brawlers in Wonderland
by ObsessiveFanNumber1
Summary: Alice has been missing for 3 weeks.  When the other eight members of the Resistance are searching, they end up down a rabbit hole!  Unfortunately, so do the Vexos, Spectra, and Gus.  But the fact remains that the Resistance still hasn't found Alice...
1. Chapter 1

**Lync: What...?**

**Me: Don't worry, Lync. You're in a lot.**

**Spectra: I don't think that's what he's asking about.**

**Dan: What is this again?**

**Me: **_**Brawlers in Wonderland**_** of course! You'll understand when you read it, but so you know, it's set in New Vestroia, between episodes 26-27. Now somebody do the disclaimer so we can get to the story.**

**Lync & Dan: Why?**

**Me: Ugh. Dan, you do it!**

**Dan: Why?**

**Me: Because I said so.**

**Dan: (groan) Obsessive-Fan Number 1 doesn't own the rights to anything in this story.**

**Spectra: Other than the plot.**

**Me: Yup. Here it is!**

"Alice!" Dan called. "Dang it, where are you?"

"Master Dan?" Baron said hesitantly. "Maybe we should take a break."

"What?" Runo whirled to face them.

"He's right," Ace said, crossing his arms. "We can't keep this up much longer without stopping to rest."

"Who says?" Julie said.

"It's been five and a half hours since we came out here," Mira said, "and we've been searching nonstop. If we keep going like this, we'll all be too tired to keep searching."

"But what about Alice?" Marucho said anxiously.

"We'll go right back to searching," Ace said. "Say...ten minute break. Then we'll be back on our feet looking for her. Okay?" He held his hand out to Dan.

"They're right, Dan," Shun said. "We need to take a break."

Dan glared at him and shook Ace's hand. "Fine." He sat down a tree stump. "Ten minutes." Everyone found a place to sit that was spaced away from everyone else, but also was still within hearing and sight range. The forest near Alice's house, where they were searching, was definitely large enough that there wasn't exactly a lack of space.

"I hope Lady Alice is alright," Baron said. He was laying stomach-down on the grass, holding his head up by keeping the palms of his hands against his cheeks and his elbows on the ground. The Haos brawler reached down and picked at some grass, spinning it in his hand before letting it go and watching it blow away in the wind.

"If it were only a day or two, I'd say she definitely is," Dan said, staring across the clearing. "Alice has been through a lot, more than any of us in a way. She can hold her own, even if she doesn't brawl. And Hydranoid's gone, too, so we can probably assume that they're together. There's no way Hydranoid will ever let Alice get hurt, so we're good there." He stood and looked back at the stump. "But they've been missing for three weeks now! I don't know if they can hold their own _this _long." Worry filled his eyes and voice.

Crouching on a tree limb several feet away and above, Lync felt the same. "Three weeks?" he whispered to himself. That was a _long_ time, longer than how long he'd stayed at her house. He nervously bit his lip. Lync didn't really want to be here spying; he'd rather be searching for Alice on his own.

_What am I _thinking_? _Lync shook his head. _Now isn't the time for this!_

_...But she was so nice..._ He felt bad. While Alice was missing, he was here spying on her friends.

_No! Stop that!_ Lync curled his fingers around the tree limb, gripping hard. Any time now, Mylene would give the signal, and the Vexos would ambush the Resistance. He couldn't afford to get distracted.

"Break's over," Dan announced, motioning with his hand. "Split up, and keep searching. Holler if you find anything, okay?"

"Split up?" Shadow repeated on Lync's gauntlet's webcam.

"Shhh," Lync said without looking away from the Resistance, already working it out in his mind. He couldn't take Shun or Ace; they'd catch him in a heartbeat...

"Got it!" Baron said, leaping to his feet.

"Was it really ten minutes?" Ace said, but he walked back over by Dan.

"What the heck do we do now?" Shadow demanded, interrupting Lync's thoughts.

"Shhh!" Lync wasn't stupid enough to take Dan or Mira—too risky to take the leaders.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hydron said. Even on the webcam, he was twirling his hair with a knowing smirk on his face.

Lync nodded. "We're already split up," he said softly. "Everybody follow one of the Resistance."

"There are more of them than us," Volt pointed out. "We can't follow everyone."

"Skip the ninjas. I don't care which other one." Lync covered his webcam with his hand and followed Baron. The Haos brawler was just dopey enough that he'd never think to look up. Lync could take advantage of that. He continued to jump tree branches (he was no ninja, but staying silent and out of sight was important enough that he'd mastered this skill years ago) to keep up with Baron.

Suddenly, Baron stopped. He tilted his head, confused by something. "Hey, guys?" he called. "I think I found something!"

Oh, what Lync wouldn't give right then to have Shadow's talent for mimicry so he could psych Baron out. But he didn't really need it to surprise Baron. Dropping to the ground, Lync landed on his feet and casually said, "What'd you find?"

"Lync?" Baron whirled around, startled.

"Surprise," Lync said, grinning mockingly. "But seriously, what'd you find? I'm curious." Not to mention worried about Alice, but Baron didn't need to know that part.

"Like I'm gonna tell you!" Baron tensed for a fight.

"You know, you really can't call a brawl against me a fair fight." Lync darted past Baron, clenching his hand into a fist. "Since you guys went and killed Altair and Wired." He held up his hands in mock innocence at Baron's startled expression. "Oops, sorry. Guess I snuck past you."

"Not for long!" Baron lunged at him.

"Oh yeah?" Lync stepped to the side, letting Baron skid to a stop. Then the Ventus brawler darted past again. "Now, let's see what's so important." He looked over his shoulder so he wouldn't turn his back on Baron. "What the—?"

It was some kind of burrow or something at the base of one of the trees. Normally, that would be no big deal; the forest around Alice's house had to be full of them. But this one was huge, almost bigger than the base of the trunk and all the gnarled roots around it combined. It was big enough that _people_ could probably fit inside it.

"What the heck?" Lync said softly, crouching down next to it, totally forgetting about Baron for a minute. "What _is _this thing?"

"I think it's some kind of rabbit hole," Baron said, coming up behind him.

"No way. It's too big for that." The two might normally be enemies, but their mutual curiosity about the hole made them both ignore that. Lync pressed a button on his gauntlet to activate the webcam and quietly said, "Guys, you've gotta come check this out. Like, _now_." He shut it off immediately and pressed his palm against the inside of the hole. "Well...maybe," he said to Baron. "Not much else it could be. But how could a rabbit hole be so big?"

"I don't know! You're the one who's supposed to be a scout!" Baron moved next to Lync and leaned over the rabbit hole, though he kept an eye on Lync. "Haven't you seen anything like this before?"

"Never," Lync said, studying it.

"Is this normal on Earth or something?" Baron wondered, staring down it as hard as he could.

"No."

"How do _you_ know?"

"I stayed with her when we got stuck here." Lync tried to ignore the tightening in his chest. "I spent a lot of time out in the forest here..." _When she was mad at me._ "There wasn't anything like this then," he said, shaking his head. "It's not normal."

"Maybe you didn't notice before?"

"How could I not notice _this_?" Lync raised his voice and pointed at the rabbit hole.

"How should _I_ know how you think?" Baron argued, raising his voice, too.

"There's no way even a dopey idiot like you could miss _that_!"

"If I had, you never would've seen it!"

"Would too!" Both were shouting now, but neither cared. Lync darted behind Baron and shoved the Haos brawler forward, pushing him into the rabbit hole.

"Whoa!" Scrambling, Baron managed to grab the edge. He clutched the ground desperately, trying to hold on as chunks of dirt and grass fell past him.

"Looks like a _long _way down," Lync said with a huge mocking grin. "Why don't you go first and let me know what you find?" He stomped on Baron's right hand, forcing him to let go with that hand. ...But the thrill still felt wrong, like it had ever since Lync had gone back to the Vexos.

"Baron!" Dan cried. The seven other members of the Resistance that were there right now raced out from the trees to Lync's left.

"Not so fast, Kuso!" Hydron stayed a step ahead of the other Vexos, who came out from the trees on Lync's right. Everyone save the two in the center was tense for a fight.

"Rather see you flat on your faces, too," Lync said casually, looking at the Resistance. He turned to the Vexos, and annoyance filled his voice. "And what took you so long?"

Below him, Baron started slipping. Frantically, he tried to grab on with his right hand again. Sheer panic was in his eyes, and he glanced wildly at the Resistance.

"Let Baron out of there, Lync!" Ace yelled.

"No way." Lync stomped on Baron's left hand. Reflexively, the Haos brawler released his desperate grip on the ground, but at the last second, he managed to grab Lync's ankle, dragging the Ventus brawler down with him despite Lync's kicking and attempts at pushing.

"Baron!" Ace shouted, bolting forward. Without a second's hesitation, he jumped down the rabbit hole, and the rest of the Resistance was right behind him.

"...Now what do we do?" Shadow said after the Resistance had disappeared.

"Isn't it obvious, Shadow?" Mylene said with an annoyed sigh. "We follow the Resistance!"

"Down there?" Volt studied the rabbit hole with a doubtful eye.

"That would be implied," Hydron said like he was correcting silly children. "That _is_ where they went after all." Volt scowled at him, but Hydron ignored him and simply twirled his hair. "Let's go," he said suddenly, unusually serious as he walked ahead and calmly stepped forward into the rabbit hole.

The three remaining Vexos exchanged a look. Then with a shrug, Volt said, "There's nothing better to do," and followed Hydron.

Mylene sighed angrily. Volt had a point, but she hated to follow Hydron anywhere. Grabbing Shadow's hand to pull him along like a small child, she started walking. "Come on."

"No problem, Mylene!" Shadow's tongue lolled out of his mouth, but for some reason, he was grinning crazily.

The Aquos brawler followed his gaze and rolled her eyes. Mylene made a point of moving her hand up to Shadow's wrist before shoving the Darkus brawler ahead of her. "Just go!"

"Okay, okay! Yeesh!" Shadow rubbed his wrist. His grin at Mylene could only be described as insane before he jumped down. The female Vexos rolled her eyes in disgust and followed.

**~I~**

From the Vestal Destroyer, Spectra watched everything. His reactions to any of it were impossible to read, especially since his back was to Gus.

"Master Spectra?" Gus said hesitantly, setting down the empty juice box that had been in his hand. "What should—"

"Patience, Gus." Spectra glanced at him over his shoulder. "It shouldn't be too long before they finish their silly cat-and-mouse game and come back out." He turned his attention back to watching.

Moments passed in silence. Those moments grew longer into minutes. There wasn't so much as a breeze to create movement. Neither the Resistance nor the Vexos reappeared.

Spectra mused over this in the silence. It was only a rabbit hole, albeit a rather large one...so why hadn't any of them climbed out yet?

Finally, Spectra couldn't stand to wait any longer. He pressed a button on his gauntlet to teleport himself, Gus, and their Bakugan onto the ground next to the hole. Spectra crouched by it and studied it. Yes, it was only a rabbit hole...so what was possibly going on to prevent anyone from coming back? Curiosity building, Spectra decided there couldn't be too much harm to finding out for himself.

"Master Spectra?" Gus said hesitantly, almost like he'd read Spectra's mind. "I'm not so sure about this..."

Spectra rolled his eyes. Gus was worrying too much, as always. "You're overthinking things, Gus. It's a rabbit hole," he said bluntly. "How much could be down there?" With that, he slipped down it, leaving Gus to make his own decision.

Gus glanced around uncomfortably, but he only waited for a few moments before silently following Spectra. The Subterra brawler didn't really want to, and he didn't think it was a wise idea. Loyalty, though, won out against uneasiness in the end. He took a small amount of comfort in Spectra's last comment, having no reason to believe it wrong.

Little did either know just how wrong it was.

**Lync: (slight blush)**

**Spectra: What are you up to?**

**Dan: Yeah! What's down there?**

**Me: Geez, you can't figure out from the two categories, Dan? Well then, you'll have to wait until chapter 2 to find out! (look out at readers) Anyway, please review! This is my first crossover, so please be nice!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: We're ba-ack!**

**Spectra: Oh brother.**

**Girl (identity will be revealed in the chapter): *looking around* Where are Lync and Dan...?**

**Me (casually): You'll see in either this chapter or the next. I haven't decided yet.**

**Spectra: (In other words, she's too lazy to decide.)**

**Me: *look at the girl* Will you do the disclaimer?**

**Girl: ...Obsessive-Fan Number 1 doesn't own Bakugan or "Alice in Wonderland".**

**Me: Thanks! Here's the chapter!**

* * *

Lying in a cell on a metal bench-like thing, a sixteen-year-old girl stirred. She slowly sat up, rubbing her dark brown eyes without opening them. Her long red hair parted so that most of it was behind her shoulders, but a few locks hung in front. A large, oval-shaped bruise was below her right shoulder from pressing against the metal for so long when she'd slept, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

Sleepily, Alice Gehabich opened her eyes, still rubbing them. "Hm?" She blinked several times before her eyes adjusted to the harsh light. When they did, they widened with fear, and she got to her feet, backing against the wall until her fingertips pressed against the cool steel.

"Alice!"

The redhead turned at the sound of her name and sighed with relief, relaxing visibly. "Hydranoid!" she said, cupping him in her hands. "What's going on?"

Darkus Alpha Hydranoid's three heads looked up at her. "I'm not sure," his left head said. "I haven't been awake much longer than you," said his middle head.

"How long have I been asleep?" Alice wondered.

Hydranoid knew it had been a long time. _Comatose_, he knew, was probably a more accurate word than _asleep_, but he saw his partner's fear and didn't say a word. After a moment of silence, his right head seriously said, "Are you alright, Alice?"

"I think so."

"Good," his left head said. Relieved, he hopped to Alice's right shoulder. "Now let's figure out what's going on here," his right head said. Alice nodded determinedly and ran up next to the cell bars. The guards standing there startled—and okay, maybe scared—her even more. All four had their backs to her, but they were an odd rectangular shape, the first thing that made her realize that something was weird about all of this. They stood stiffly, two on either side of the bars. Each held a different weapon—a spear, a lance, a mace-like weapon, and a weapon that looked like a cross between a lance and a pitchfork. It terrified Alice, but she tried to hide it.

"Excuse me?" the redhead said politely to the guard with the spear, trying not to let her voice shake. "Could you—"

"Prisoners don't speak to guards."

The guard said it so bluntly that Alice shrunk back. "Oh," she said in a small, trembling voice after a moment of awkward silence. "Could you just tell me how long I've been asleep then?" Hydranoid tried not to flinch; he would've face-palmed had he not been in ball form (and either way, it was hard to face-palm with three heads). This was going to be bad with a capitol B, and he knew it.

"Three weeks," the guard said sharply.

Alice gasped. "Three weeks? Oh no!" She sank onto the metal bench. "Grandfather must be so worried! And Dan and the others..." She trailed off, extremely upset. Another name came to her mind, but she didn't dare say it aloud. _And Lync..._

"Alice, I'm sure they know we're okay," Hydranoid's right head said anxiously, trying to comfort her. But Alice curled into a ball, trying her hardest not to cry at how scared everyone else must be, not to mention how scared _she_ was. Even with all her efforts, though, tears slipped free of her eyes. Hydranoid, understanding that he could do no more than be there for her, landed by the space between her head and knees. Both Bakugan and brawler slipped into silence.

**~I~**

"What the h*ll?" Helios growled, sounding confused and unimpressed.

"Pathetic," Spectra muttered. The Resistance and the Vexos were all here—wherever 'here' was—but somehow, they were all unconscious and sprawled on the ground like paint splatters on an easel. The most confusing part, though, was that they were all spaced out unevenly. From the look of things, someone had purposely dragged each human or Vestal, and then suddenly changed their minds and left the Vexos and the Resistance strewn randomly all over the place. To Spectra—who didn't see the point to doing anything pointlessly—it made no sense and was hard to understand, to say the least.

"Sir, do you know anything about any of this?" Gus asked, studying the entire area. He didn't understand this any more than Spectra, but not quite as good at hiding it. Confusion colored his face.

"Honestly, Gus? No." Spectra took great care to kick Dan in the side hard enough for the human brawler to feel the pain whenever he woke up. The kick rolled Dan onto his side, and Spectra crouched down next to him. Picking up Drago (apparently, the Bakugan were unconscious as well), he toyed with the Pyrus Bakugan, half tempted to take Drago now and be done with it. After all, Dan would not only not stand a chance to stop him, but would probably not even know what happened. The thought of how confused Dan would be was the reason for the corner of Spectra's mouth twitching into a quick smile.

"Don't bother," Helios growled, practically reading Spectra's mind again. "How am I supposed to beat him if Kuso isn't the one brawling with him?"

Spectra smiled at Helios's barely-contained fury at the pathetic state Drago and Dan were in. It never seemed to even _occur_ to the half-mechanical Bakugan that Drago would be used by anyone other than Dan Kuso. All the same, Helios was right. Spectra set Drago on the ground and straightened. Then, for good measure and fun, he kicked Dan again—this time in the shoulder—to roll him onto his stomach again.

"Now look what you've done."

The unfamiliar voice made Spectra and Gus turn. "You'd dare accuse—!" Gus started, but a hand and a shake of his head from Spectra stopped him. The Subterra battler settled into an angry silence.

A striped cat with a skeleton-like smile materialized standing on a nearby slanted rock—literally _materialized_ out of thin air. Not teleported, not appeared, but _materialized_. That alone put Spectra on edge. The cat's fur was a mix between purple and a blue-gray color, another thing stranger than Spectra cared for. But the most disturbing part was that the cat was casually holding its _head_ on its _hip_. Its neck curved down where its head was supposed to be, but its head was held in its hands it was supposed to meet the neck. Or rather, in its hands and in the air—the cat had started _juggling_ its _head_ like it was the most normal thing in the world. The sheer wrongness against every fact of science made Spectra instantly dislike the cat.

"You went and ruined my artwork," the cat said, looking at Spectra, still smiling in the same odd way. Its voice shifted tone in the same way that smoke shifted its shape. It was starting to creep Spectra out, if he was to be completely honest.

"Artwork?" Spectra repeated in a 'seriously?' tone, staring at the cat. The thing had to be completely and utterly insane. There was simply no other explanation.

The cat smiled and disappeared. It re-materialized next to Spectra, making the Pyrus brawler jerk back. "Of course," the cat said as it pushed Dan back into the position Spectra and Gus had found him in. The cat dusted its paws (which were far more like hands than any cat's paws should be) and smiled its skeleton grin at Spectra. "Like it?"

Suddenly everything connected. The cat had dragged and arranged the Resistance and the Vexos like this. The 'artwork' referred to how it had arranged them to create a design that Spectra now understood: the cat's moon-eyes and skeleton grin. Both reasons helped explain why the whole situation was so...weird. "...I see," Spectra said doubtfully, but he wasn't willing to push a confusing point. He shot a 'can you believe this thing?' look at Gus. "We'll leave you to your...work then." He turned to leave.

The cat finished rearranging Dan, looked up, and smiled again. "Welcome to Wonderland," it said, pulled its tail around itself, and vanished.

"...What was that about?" Spectra said after a moment of silence.

"I'm not exactly sure," Gus replied.

Spectra looked at him. "But according to that...thing, we're in Wonderland."

"Apparently, sir."

"...Do you know if that's supposed to mean anything?"

"Honestly, Master Spectra? No."

Spectra sighed; it had been worth a shot. "Let's go, Gus," he said, starting to walk away. One thing made him stop.

Mira.

She was at the far corner of the smile, curled and off to the side like burnt paper.

Spectra clenched his hand into a fist and continued to walk away.

* * *

**Me: Sorry, lot shorter chapter this time. The next one will be longer, I promise! But I decided chapter 1 didn't have enough of Spectra and Gus, and obviously it had nothing of Alice, so this chapter was all them.**

**Spectra: ...What was—**

**Me: —the cat? That was—well, if you don't know, you'll find out next chapter. (By the way, I know this is listed as a crossover between Bakugan and the Disney "Alice in Wonderland", but a lot of things will be similar to the Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" as well. Like the cat. Also, some characters from the movies won't appear {probably like Alice Kingsley - I haven't decided if I'm going to bring her in or not yet, but I'm leaning toward not} and others will make cameos; it will be a select few that actually play a large role {like the cat and the Q of H - you all know who I mean}. Just so you're warned.) **

**Alice: *panicked* So they were unconscious?**

**Me: Yeah. But don't worry, they're fine. Really, I promise, Lync is okay.**

**Alice: *blush***

**Me: And so is Dan...**

**Spectra: (For him not to be would be too much to ask for...) *sigh***

**Me: Anyways, please review! If you do, I will definitely make the next chapter longer (more like the length of the first one). I promise! As long as you review! Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Rin: Yay! Update time!**

**Spectra & Lync: Oh great...**

**Rin: Quit complaining, you two.**

**Lync: Make us!**

**Rin: You really want me to? Fine, I won't have—**

**Dan: No spoilers, Rin-chan!**

**Rin: Oh yeah... Well, I'll change this chapter if you don't stop. And trust me, Lync, you don't want this chapter to change.**

**Lync: *stick tongue out***

**Spectra: (Surrounded by idiots...)**

**Rin: Whose turn is it to do the disclaimer?**

**Lync & Dan: Not mine!**

**Rin: *checks chapters 1 and 2* Well, Dan did it in chapter one, and Alice did it last time—**

**Lync (instantly): Alice?**

**Rin: —so it's either Lync's or Spectra's.**

**Spectra: Don't I do the disclaimer enough?**

**Rin: Yeah, I suppose. So, Lync, you can do it.**

**Lync: *thinking of Alice doing it* What? Oh, Obsessive-Fan Number 1 doesn't own anything.**

**Rin: Yuppers. Now onto chapter 3!**

* * *

Almost an hour later, Lync stirred. "What the..." he started groggily, wincing when he rubbed his head. The last thing he remembered didn't make any sense; after all, since when did purpleish blue-gray cats use their heads as bowling balls? He knew _that_ never happened on Earth.

"Whoa!" Lync scampered away when he realized he was between Volt and Shun. "Huh?" he said, glancing around. Everyone was like that, laid at weird angles and—by the looks of things—unconscious. The surroundings were as weird as whatever the heck was going on. It all looked similar to normal except the colors. The grass was more blue-green than plain green. The sky was purpleish, not hardly blue at all. The trees were every color Lync could name and more. _What's going on?_

Not wanting to be the only one awake, Lync shook Volt to try and wake him. "Volt? We've got a little problem here!" The Haos brawler stirred but ignored Lync. "Come on! I'm serious, really!" Lync kicked Volt in the side. "Don't make me go to _Shadow_ to wake everybody up, 'cause it's you or him."

"All right, all right," Volt said irritably. He took his time sweet time getting up, but he did.

Lync rolled his eyes. To make Volt go faster, he said, "Just open your eyes and look around. I don't think we're sear—in the forest near Alice's house anymore." He'd almost said 'searching', but he remembered at the last second that none of the Vexos cared that Alice was missing.

Volt jerked back. "What the h*ll?"

Lync nodded calmly. "Yup. That about sums it up." He couldn't help a smirk at how he was able to seem cool about the whole thing while Volt was so startled.

"What happened?"

"No idea. You gonna give me a hand waking everybody up or what?" Lync grinned when he saw Mylene curled up next to Shadow. _Oh, Mylene's gonna _love_ that!_ Their hands were interlocked and everything. _Shadow actually _will _love that one._

"You're waking them." Volt walked over to Hydron, who was—ironically enough—between Dan and Mira. "I'll wake His Royal Highness. Maybe he won't complain so much this time."

Lync bit back a laugh. "Good luck with _that_." He kicked Shadow in the side, then did the same thing to Mylene. "Hey! Lovebirds! Get up! We're leaving soon!"

"What?" Volt glanced over at him, but he didn't stop shaking Hydron awake.

"Were you planning on staying here?" Lync stepped back quickly when Mylene started to stir, not wanting to be next to her when she exploded. "'Cause I'm not."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to figure out what's going on here before we keep going?" Volt paused mid-shake to watch when Mylene opened her eyes, shrieked with rage, and punched Shadow in the stomach, pulling her hand away and swearing.

"We can ask Shadow," Lync said matter-of-factly. He snickered when the Darkus brawler reached out—probably to try and explain—and got his hand slapped away.

"Ask _Shadow_?" Volt repeated as Shadow blew on his hand (which was now red, thanks to Mylene's slap).

"Well, it _is_ crazy here. Maybe it'll make sense to him," Lync said. "Just wake up the prince so we can go." Volt nodded and shook Hydron hard.

The Subterra brawler stirred and half-opened his eyes. "What is it?" he snapped tiredly. Then his eyes widened slightly. "Whoa. What—"

"Don't ask us," Volt said, standing.

"For t he first—and hopefully, the last—time, we're as clueless as you are, Hydron," Lync said, surveying the area some more.

"Be a good slave and be quiet," Hydron retorted, sitting up. "How did we get here?"

"No idea," Volt said. "I think the hole had something to do with it, though."

"What?" Lync glanced over, distracted from his thoughts. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Wait...you think the giant rabbit hole brought us here?"

"That's crazy!" Shadow blurted, rubbing the side of his face where Mylene had slapped him again. "Even to me!"

Volt shrugged. "Maybe, but I think it's true."

"What makes you so sure?" Mylene said, glaring at Shadow out of the corner of her eye.

"Think about it," Volt said. "We were fine on Earth beforehand. Then we went through it, and we wound up in this place."

Lync shook his head over and over again. "No no no no no no no no..." he muttered, pinching his arm as hard as he could. _Ouch!_ "Don't be here..."

The Vexos all looked at him. "You know something about this, Lync?" Hydron said suspiciously.

"Yes," Lync groaned, pinching himself again. _Don't tell me we're _here_, of all places!_ But as much as he hated to admit it, it made sense, with the rabbit hole and the—

"Congratulations." A grinning purpleish blue-gray cat materialized standing in front of the Vexos. They all scampered back, startled.

—cat. Lync groaned, wishing he was wrong. "That's the...the..." He couldn't remember its name, but he definitely remembered the cat.

"The Cheshire Cat," the cat said, bowing and sweeping its tail out behind it. "I believe your pink-haired friend knows where you are."

The Vexos turned to Lync. "Well?" Hydron said impatiently.

"Do I have to?" Lync groaned miserably.

"Well, you don't _have_ to," the cat said airily, casually popping its head off.

"Whoa!" Volt jerked back, startled.

Twirling its head in the air, the Cheshire Cat said, "But you can for them to understand." With a skeletonal smile, it—in this order—disappeared, then said, "Good luck."

"Ugh," Lync moaned, but he turned to the others. "It's called 'Wonderland'. Some crazy Earthling came up with it for a story, but at the end of it, the whole mess she gets into turns out to be a dream. That's why I kept pinching myself."

"She?" Shadow repeated. "Who's 'she'?"

"The main character. I don't remember her name," Lync lied easily. A thought ran through his mind that made him stop. _If they're both Alice...and we're in Wonderland...does that mean...she's..._ Honestly, he was too scared to finish the thought. The idea of Alice at risk or hurt or anything like that terrified him, and he remembered how, in the movie, the Queen of Hearts hated movie-Alice a lot. If anyone got a wrong idea... He pushed away the thought. "Come on, let's go. We don't want to be stuck here any longer than we need to be." The Vexos nodded, and the other four started walking. Lync was about to follow, but something on the ground caught his eyes. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Volt held out a hand to stop the others. Of all of them, he had brawled with Lync enough that he knew to stop and listen when Lync noticed something.

"Those," Lync said, crouching down and touching the ground. He looked up at the others. "Footprints. Two sets. Give you three guesses whose footprints I'm betting they are."

"So he's here, too." Hydron's eyes narrowed.

"Guess our residential traitors followed us." Mylene's voice was cold as ice, and she spoke the words extremely distastefully.

"Wait, Spectra and Gus?" Shadow looked back and forth between them.

Lync rolled his eyes. "Duh," he said, straightening. "Should we follow them or no?"

"It certainly doesn't make sense _not_ to, does it?" Hydron said, twirling his hair. He walked ahead, taking the same path as the footprints and pushing aside bush leaves and branches to clear himself a path. "Let's see what Spectra has been up to while we were unconscious." Volt, Shadow, and Mylene followed, but Lync hesitated, looking over his shoulder. _Alice...I hope Spectra didn't get to you. But hopefully I'm not going in the wrong direction to find you, either._ He shook his head; who was he kidding? He didn't even know if Alice was really here. The most he had was a hunch from the dread in his chest. Suddenly he remembered something he'd picked up that humans did for luck. Lync crossed his fingers at his side. Then he ran after the others.

* * *

**Rin: Holy cow! O.O THREE updates in ONE day! *stares***

**Spectra: Don't sound so impressed with yourself...**

**Rin: But that's never happened before! *pouts***

**Dan: Now look what you did, Spectra! You put her in a bad mood! You realize how much torture she's gonna put us through next chapter because of that?**

**Spectra: You say that like I'm supposed to care, Dan Kuso.**

**Rin: Stop arguing, you two. *turns to Lync* See? Aren't you glad I didn't change the chapter around?**

**Lync (still thinking of Alice): What? Oh yeah. Sure.**

**Rin: *smiles* Anyways, please review!**


End file.
